General BackgroundThe Brewster F2A Buffalo was USN's first mono-wing fighter. The status of the "Buffalo" is somewhat controversial in the history of aviation. It is designed by US but saw its real success only in Finland , a co-belligerent of Germany during WWII. It is designed as a carrier based fighter but only saw combat from land bases.

The most distinctive feature of the Buffalo was the retractable landing gear. With the right pilot the plane was quite capable in combat. Some historians believe that some units of the Commonwealth squadrons may have achieved a 2 to 1 kill ratio in the Far East .

The Aircraft

The U.S. Government started to receive the first of their 235 F2A-2s in September 1940 . In early 1941 VF-2 and VF-3 (Felix the Cat squadron) were being equipped with the planes . During the service with VF-3, the F2A-2 was plagued with landing gear problems as well the Wright Cyclone engine flaws in the bearings . VF-3 flew the F2A-2 for eight months before being re-equipped with the F2A-3. Because of slow delivery and increment of overseas sales of the aircraft, the USN finally turned to choose the F-4 Wildcat. Nether less, the F-2A was considered by many Navy pilots to be the best Buffalo variant.